How to Build Muscle With Just a Pair of Dumbbells: No Gym Required

Building muscle is simple:  stimulate the muscle, provide tension, and challenge the muscle each workout. Some fitness gurus will over-complicate this process and tell you what equipment you “need” to have. In reality, you can build muscle with a set of dumbbells. 

Build Serious Muscle With Just Dumbbells

Building muscle is simple and can be done based on your schedule and the time you can commit to your training. 

Why You Don’t Need a Full Gym to Get Bigger and Stronger

Gyms are nice to go to. Between the community that helps you reach your goals and the broad access to equipment, going there could be a highlight of your day. However, there are 3 typical restraints that the gym can’t account for:

• Time: Going to and from the gym, even in your work commute, can take time away from the other things in your life that are important. 

• Congestion: Most people have the same gym schedule, after work. This can cause gym congestion, leaving you waiting for your next machine if you don't want to work-in with someone. 

• Constant Cost: A gym membership is a monthly or yearly cost. This expense, over time, can add up. 

Setting up a home gym, with just dumbbells to start, can cut all three negatives out of your fitness journey. 

The Benefits of Dumbbell Training for Muscle Growth

Compared to other exercise equipment, using dumbbells for training allows you to experience the full range of motion for any muscle and joint. This benefits the muscle by challenging it throughout the movement and allowing it to become fully stretched and contracted. Consistent tension is the goal of every movement you perform to gain muscle. 

How to Maximize Gains Using Only Dumbbells

Training, to gain muscle, to gain strength, or to start living a healthier lifestyle, is all centered around one idea- get better each week. This looks different for each person, but in the realm of gaining muscle, it could be one of these 3 things:

1. Getting another rep in a challenging set. 

This improvement metric is one of the hardest to achieve, especially if you don’t have a spotter. With that, getting one more rep in can increase your time under tension, forcing the muscle to grow. The increase can also help with your muscle endurance, meaning how well your muscle is using the oxygen you breathe in. 

2. Increasing the weight you’re moving in a set.

Some may consider this the easiest of the 3 metrics as increasing weight can challenge the muscle. Although it may decrease the number of reps you can perform, increasing your weight puts more tension on your muscles and as a rule of thumb, a bigger muscle is a stronger muscle. 

3. Increasing the time you are in a set (increasing time under tension).

There are going to be days when everything is on point; from your sleep to your nutrition to your water intake. On these days you'll feel stronger and more energized, but instead of increasing your weight increase the time you’re in a set by increasing the negative part of the rep by a second or two. This increase in time will put more tension on your muscles and will force them to grow. 

The Science of Muscle Growth: Why Dumbbells Are All You Need

Since the inception of kinesiology programs (the study of how the body moves), we’ve learned a lot about the body's mechanics. These studies can help us understand how we approach training, building muscle, and what equipment we need to grow. 

Muscle Hypertrophy Explained: How Your Muscles Grow

Hypertrophy is all about the tension we put on a muscle, how long we can bring a muscle through its full range of motion through repetitions, and how we break down these repetitions. 

• Negative Phase: The phase in which you are bringing the target muscle into a stretched position. This should be the longest part of a rep. 

• Positive Phase: The phase in which you bring the muscle into a flexed position. This should be explosive but controlled for proper form. 

• Mind Muscle Connection: This connection is described as feeling the target muscle contract as you complete a rep. 

Why Dumbbells Are Effective for Strength and Size

As mentioned before, dumbbells are effective for building strength and size because they allow you to perform a movement through its full range of motion. This allows for greater tension. There is another benefit to training with dumbbells, the ease of progressive overload. 

The Ease of Progressive Overload

Dumbbells can start at a relatively low weight, anywhere from 2.5 to 5 lbs. They also increase in weight by 2.5-5lbs. These slight increases aid in building strength slowly so that you don’t get hurt by overdoing it. As weeks progress you should feel yourself getting stronger, this is the definition of progressive overload. 

Dumbbells and the Home Gym

Most people don’t have room for a full rack of dumbbells to use in their home gym. This is where PowerBlock comes in. With a variety of adjustable dumbbells, you can choose the set that’s right for your strength levels and only need 2 feet of space for them. 

The Best Dumbbell Exercises for Maximum Muscle Gains

When looking at your routine, start with a simple Push, Pull, Leg program. This way you’re hitting each position of your body once a week. 

Upper Body: Build a Strong Chest, Back, Shoulders, and Arms

• Chest: Bench pressing and dumbbell flies at different angles; flat and inclined.

• Back: Rows where your upper arms are pulling at different angles from the body. 

• Shoulders: Presses, lateral raises, reverse flyers, and upright rows are going to be your best friend. 

• Arms: Biceps curls and Triceps extensions are going to be your primary movements for growth.  

Lower Body: Powerful Legs Without a Barbell

• Quads: Goblet squats, lunges, and split squats.

• Hamstrings: Romanian deadlifts, reverse lunges, and swings.

• Glutes: Hip thrusts will isolate the glutes. Performing the movements under the Quads and Hamstrings will involve the glutes. 

Core & Stability: Strengthen Your Midsection for Better Performance

• Abs: Planks, sit-ups, leg raises, and Russian twists. 

• Lower Back: Deadlifts and good mornings.

Your Ultimate Dumbbell-Only Workout Routine for Muscle Growth

We’re going to keep this workout a simple 3-day split, Push, Pull, Legs. These workouts as mentioned will hit your entire body. You can throw in an additional day to train your abs, but it won’t be a key component. Your goal is to rest 45-90 seconds after each set. 

Warm-Up

Your Warm-up will focus on the primary muscles of that day and the main joint. If you’re warming up with dumbbells, keep this weight light. Your goal is to get your heart rate up and get the target muscle groups warm. Do you want more information on warming up? Check out our how to properly warm-up and cool-down blog. 

Set Scheme:

• Feeler: These sets are low repetition and are meant to prepare your body for your heaviest (working) sets. Before starting each set add more weight. 

• Working: These will be your heaviest and hardest sets, performing 2-3 per movement. Our goal is to hit failure between 6 and 10 reps on compound lifts and 8-12 reps on isolation lifts. 

The Workouts

Dumbbell Push Day

Dumbbell Pull Day

Dumbbell Leg Day

Core Workout

Common Mistakes to Avoid When Training with Dumbbells

Now that you have the recipe for success with your training, it’s time to discuss things to avoid when training with Dumbbells. 

Going Too Heavy Without a Spotter

Having a spotter for your workout isn’t always possible for everyone. The best way to avoid this is to lighten the load and increase your reps to hit failure still. The other option, if you still want to lift heavy weights, is to go until muscle fatigue or form failure. This happens towards the end of the set where you feel like you can get another few reps but your form will suffer. 

Not Taking the Proper Time to Warm-Up

Taking the time to warm up will be of great benefit to you. It will prime your muscles and joints to move the weight so you can challenge yourself. Skipping this can lead to injury. Make sure to perform your warm-ups and feeler sets properly to avoid this. 

Dumbbells are an incredibly effective tool for building muscle. Your workouts can be quick and simple, giving you time to focus on other areas of life without affecting your fitness journey. Your workouts are your own and hopefully, the provided workout helps you reach your goals.